The “Tourment d’amour”

The “Tourment d’amour” is the famous and traditional tartlet from “Les Saintes”. When arriving at the port, there are women from the island who are selling them. The “Tourment d’amour” consists in a shortcrust pastry tartlet filled with multiple jams’ flavours: coconut, guava, banana or pineapple, fully covered with a sponge cake. Here is the recipe:

Preparation: 20 minutes

Cooking: 40 minutes

Ingredients for 8 people

250 g of shortcrust pastry (you can also do it by mixing 100g of butter more 200g of flour)

6 table spoons of coconut jam

You can also use other tropical fruits jams such as guava, banana or pineapple

Custard (50cl):

25 cl of single cream

2 tablespoons of flour (25g)

50g of brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 pinch of nutmeg

A zest of lime

Sponge cake:

125g of flour

125g of sugar

4 eggs

Vanilla extract

Instructions

Drape the pastry over a baking tray and prick all over with a fork and put it in the fridge

Preheat your oven to 180° then prepare the custard. Bring the single cream to boil. In a bowl, whisk the eggs with the brown sugar then add the flour to obtain a smooth cream. Add the boiled single cream while stirring. Transfer the cream to the pan to thicken and add the cinnamon, the nutmeg and the zest of lime

Prepare the sponge cake: whisk the eggs with the sugar until pale. Melt and add the flour and the vanilla extract

Take your pastry out of the fridge. Melt the coconut jam with the custard then pour the filling three-quarter in the pastry case. Finally pour the sponge. Bake for 40 minutes or until dark golden

I gave you the recipe for a big tart but in general it comes as tartlets. When visiting Les Saintes you will be able to buy small packs of these delicious tartlets. Each pack has a different flavour.